


might just kiss you. / not always like this.

by dualcolours



Series: rock city bitch [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, the ship is implied at least. i'll be honest., vesper uses he/she pronouns.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 04:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21155876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dualcolours/pseuds/dualcolours
Summary: vesper's gone up to stargaze at the lighthouse. shame she forgot to actually look up constellations./it's late, and someone's at the door.





	might just kiss you. / not always like this.

**Author's Note:**

> fictober day five: i might just kiss you, word count six-hundred and seventy.
> 
> fictober day eleven: it's not always like this, word count five-hundred fourty-six.

day five:

vesper made his way down the boardwalk, shopping bags in one hand and a paper list in the other, only half paying attention to his surroundings. enough to not walk into anyone, but not really enough to listen out for anything. she scooted around a person to avoid walking into them, but startled to a stop when they grabbed his sleeve.

“vespeeeer, i’ve been trying to get your attention!” steven said, tugging at vespers sleeve, “what are you so focused on anyway? this is like that time when you were watching us practice with pearl and-”

“hey, steven! oh, just checking my list to make sure i got everything for tonight, nothing big!” vesper cut off the boy before he could go any further, “some normal groceries and then some snacks for tonight.”

“tonight? what are you doing tonight that you need snacks for?” steven asked curiously, and vesper pointed up at the setting sky. “star-gazing. i kicked ronaldo out from the lighthouse telescope that your dad bought, and i was going to hang out there. i don’t work tomorrow, so i figured i’d just pull an allnighter.”

“oh oh! can i come? pretty please?” steven begged, and vesper laughed. she messed up his hair and shook his head no.

“sorry dude, the gems would kill me if i let you stay up all night. i gotta go finish getting ready little dude, but i’ll tell you all about it tomorrow, okay?” vesper waved goodbye to steven and started back down the boardwalk towards the buses, reading over the list again.

“god damn. fuck stairs, anyone ever heard of a fucking elevator before?” vesper complained to himself as he made it up the last few steps and out the lighthouse lantern room. dropping his bag by the telescope, she sat on the floor and stared up at the sky. luckily, beach city didn’t have very much light pollutuon, and the sky was clear enough that the night sky shone brightly. vesper sat for several minutes, just gazing upwards.

“it fucking sucks that i don’t know a single constellation or anything.” vesper said aloud after a few moments, “i probably should have brought a book or something. star-gazing for dummies.” vesper dug around in his bag, unzipping a bag of sour gummy worms and shovelling a few into her mouth and continued to star up at the stars he knew nothing about.

“some forethought probably wouldn’t have killed you,” vesper startled, nearly choking on a gummy worm before turning to see pearl stepping up the last few stairs and sitting next to him. “steven told me that you said he couldn’t stay up all night with you, and i told him you were right. growing humans need their sleep.” pearl said, gem glowing. she pulled out a folded blanket and offered to to vesper, who accepted and tucked it around himself.

“i bet you know a bunch, pearl. you should point them out to me,” vesper said, giving the gem a side grin that implied this had been his intent all along. she rolled her eyes in mock exasperation, but vesper wasn’t fooled. when it came to space, pearl was never far behind, and vesper got comfortable as she started to point out the constellations.

“....and that makes up the caligo constellation. the mythos behind that one was sadly lost when yellow diamond’s kindergartens destroyed the planet it came from.” pearl finished. as the gem had described many of the constellations she knew, the pair had slowly shifted closer, and now vesper rested his head on her and her arm was around his shoulder.

“what do you think?”

“...i think i miss kiss you..” vesper replied, sounding very sleepy, though he immediately sat up when he realized he had said that aloud. for a few moments, neither of them moved, and pearl realized she still had her arm around the humans’ shoulder. she pulled him closer, and pressed a gentle kiss to his cheek.

“maybe when you’re a little more awake.”

day eleven:

fictober eleven: “it’s not always like this.” vesper + pearl. words: 546.

vesper blinked awake, not entirely sure what had roused him from his sleep. she rolled over to blearily look at the clock, four-nineteen blinking back at him in blocky red numbers. vesper was about to roll over and go back to sleep when she heard it again. a quiet knocking from the front door.

she shuffled off the bed and grabbed his cellphone from the nightstand, checking it as she made her way to the door. no messages from steven or the other gems, and normally if it was one of them, they’d send a message. especially this early. unsure of what to expect, vesper unhooked a facemask from the wall and slung it on, and pulled the door open.

to his surprise, pearl stood at the door, arm raised to knock again. her eyes were red and her cheeks tearstained, and she lowered her arm and held them close to her chest, looking down and away from vesper. gently, vesper took her arm and pulled her inside, closing the door behind them. hands on her shoulder, he guided her to the couch to sit down and disappeared into his room for a few moments.

“here, put this on,” vesper returned with an oversized hoodie and blanket in her arms, letting the gem shakily pull the hoodie over her head before sitting on the couch as well and tucking them both up in the blanket. he knew, of course, that pearl wasn’t trembling because she was cold, but guessed it would be comforting nonetheless. they sat there for several moments in silence, vesper with his arms wrapped around pearl, and pearl tucked as close as she could be.

“steven wanted to have a slumber party,” pearl’s voice was small and unsteady, and she took a moment to try and clear it, “his cartoon had one, and he said it had been so long since he had had one. but garnet and amethyst were off on a mission, and connie had school tomorrow. so i said i’d have one with him.”

“i thought you didn’t like sleeping?” vesper asked, voice low and gentle, and she felt pearl nod against her chest.

“i thought that since it was just myself and steven, it would be fine- he would be asleep, and whatever dream i projected wouldn’t be seen. but he woke up for a drink and-” pearl cut herself off, covering her mouth with her hands, shoulders shaking as fresh tears formed in her eyes. gently, vesper wiped them away and rested his head against hers.

“it’s okay. it’s okay,” she soothed, and again felt pearl nod against her. “it’s not always this way,” pearl sniffled, and vespers’ heart hurt for her. she always seemed so confident and proud of herself, but vesper knew as well as the other gems that certain topics toppled that like towers of sand. “but when i woke up from that dream, the look on his face.. it was so much like rose that i couldn’t take it. i had to leave. and here i am.”

with his free hand, vesper unlooped the mask from his face, and pressed a gentle kiss to the side of her head. “i’m glad that you feel like you can come to me when you need safety.”


End file.
